Abstract

We study the existence of global-in-time weak solutions to a coupled microscopic-macroscopic bead-spring model which arises from the kinetic theory of dilute solutions of polymeric liquids with noninteracting polymer chains. The model consists of the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a bounded domain in two or three space dimensions, for the velocity and the pressure of the fluid, with an elastic extra-stress tensor as right-hand side in the momentum equation. The extra-stress tensor stems from the random movement of the polymer chains and is defined through the associated probability density function which satisfies a Fokker-Planck type parabolic equation, a crucial feature of which is the presence of a centre-of-mass diffusion term. The anisotropic Friedrichs mollifiers, which naturally arise in the course of the derivation of the model in the Kramers expression for the extra stress tensor and in the drag term in the Fokker-Planck equation, are replaced by isotropic Friedrichs mollifiers. We establish the existence of global-in-time weak solutions to the model for a general class of spring-force-potentials including in particular the widely used FENE (Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic) potential. We justify also, through a rigorous limiting process, certain classical reductions of this model appearing in the literature which exclude the centre-of-mass diffusion term from the Fokker-Planck equation on the grounds that the diffusion coefficient is small relative to other coefficients featuring in the equation. In the case of a corotational drag term we perform a rigorous passage to the limit as the Friedrichs mollifiers in the Kramers expression and the drag term converge to identity operators.